The present invention relates generally to paperboard carriers for use in packaging articles such as beverage bottles, and more particularly to a basket-style carrier in which the articles are arranged in two or more rows and which has partitioning tabs between the center cells.
One traditional paperboard carrier for beverage bottles is the basket-style carrier. An example of such a carrier is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,029,698. The carrier include side, end and bottom walls, and is typically used with bottles grouped in two rows. Located between the two rows is a medial partitioning structure which interconnects the end walls and which is formed of two or more overlapping longitudinal partition panels. The medial partitioning structure is connected at its upper end to an upright handle structure by which the basket carrier may be carried. The carrier also includes transverse partition panels extending between each side wall and the medial partitioning structure to define individual cells into which bottles may be placed.
The transverse partition panels, typically, are cut or struck from the longitudinal partition panels, whereupon an opening may be defined in the medial partitioning structure at a location, for example, between the center cells of a six-cell carrier. The opening in the medial partitioning structure is often so large that the structure fails to maintain enough material for providing a substantial partition between the two rows of bottles. This could cause the bottles in the two rows to collide each other while they are drop-loaded into the carrier. Bottle collision could result in bottle breakage when the bottles are made of glass. For this reason, it is advantageous to close the opening, if possible, to prevent bottles from colliding each other.
One way in which the opening in the medial partitioning structure can be at least partially closed is to cut tabs out of the transverse partition panels and to retain the tabs unfolded with respect to the medial partitioning structure. An example of such an approach can be seen in U.S. Pat. No. 2,702,144. One disadvantage of this approach, however, is a relatively large opening area that would remain unoccupied if the partitioning tabs were used in the carrier of the type such as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,029,698 where each longitudinal partition panel provides two or more transverse partition panels. In the arrangement where two or more transverse partition panels are cut from each longitudinal partition panel, it is likely that only one of the transverse partition panels can afford a partitioning tab. It is unlikely that such a tab is adequate to effectively prevent bottle collision.
What is needed, therefore, is an improved basket-style carrier that protects glass articles from breakage during the article loading process. Such a carrier should have partitioning means that can considerably reduce the substantial size of the opening in the medial partitioning structure while requiring a minimum amount of material for forming the carrier.